Fourth man arrested in deadly 2015 Absecon motel shootout

A fourth man has been arrested in a 2015 motel shootout that left two men dead and two others injured.
Donnell Nicholas, 23, was arrested Tuesday morning at a home on the 300 block of Rosemont Avenue, Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner said.
He was one of two men wounded in a shooting at the Red Roof Inn in Absecon more than two years ago.
Diante Owens, 22, of Pleasantville, and Gerald Alvarez, 22, of Mays Landing, were found inside room at the Red Roof Inn just before 5 a.m. March 1, 2015.
Nicholas, then 22, and Zackery Geckeler, 22, of Galloway Township, were taken to two different hospitals with gunshot wounds.
Owens came to the hotel in his mother’s car, which was then used to drive at least one of the men to the hospital, his girlfriend previously said.
The car was later found idling outside his mother’s home, empty but with blood stains inside, said Khadijah Faulkner, who has a young child with Owens.
Nicholas, Brian Bennett. Aaquile Reeves and Tywan Dixon, along with Owens were engaged in the commission or attempted commission of a robbery when the shootings happened, according to the charges.
The targets of the robbery were also allegedly armed, and engaged in drug dealing when the exchange of gunfire began.
Bennett, 25, and Dixon, 22, both of Pleasantville, Reeves, 20, of Absecon, and Nicholas are charged with felony murder, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and gun charges in Alvarez’s killing.
The other three men were all arrested last year.
They are charged only with Alvarez’s killing since Owens was allegedly involved in the initial crime.
Felony murder is any killing that happens during the commission of another crime, even if the death was unintentional and as long as the victim was not a participant in the underlying felony.
Nicholas is expected to have his first court appearance at 2 p.m. Wednesday.